1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus capable of picking up an image as a moving image and also capable of recording at least one of a still image and a sound.
2. Description of Related Art
Use of a flash device is necessary in taking a picture (in picking up an image) of a low luminance object of shooting even for image pickup apparatuses, such as electronic cameras and the like, of these days. The guide numbers of flash devices are arranged to be controllable by varying their illuminating angles. The guide number is a value indicative of the amount of light emission by a flash device.
The amount of light emission by a flash device can be controlled according to a magnification by interlocking the control of the guide number with the control of a variator lens. Such a control arrangement permits taking a shot of an object with an adequate amount of exposure.
In carrying out control over the guide number of a flash device according to a magnification by interlocking the control of the guide number with the control of a variator lens as mentioned above, however, there arises the following problem. In a case where the flash device is of the kind capable of controlling the amount of light emission, when the variator lens is controlled for an arbitrary magnification at the timing of picking up a still image while using flash emission, the guide number of the flash device is caused to vary accordingly. Then, in such a case, it is hardly possible to make an apposite exposure for obtaining an adequate result of shooting.
Further, in the case of a video camera which is arranged to record a sound simultaneously with a still image in recording the still image, there is such a disadvantage that any operating sound generated from the variator lens or the flash device at the time of varying the magnification would be recorded in picking up the still image.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus capable of picking up an image as a moving image, the image pickup apparatus being able to record at least one of a still image and a sound and able to change at least one of a focal length of an image forming optical system and an illuminating angle of a flash device, and the image pickup apparatus, when recording the at least one of the still image and the sound, being prevented from changing the at least one of the focal length of the image forming optical system and the illuminating angle of the flash device.
In accordance with other aspects of the invention, there are provided a control method for the image pickup apparatus and a computer program product for controlling the image pickup apparatus.
The above and further aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.